France flies its Afghan migrants home...and UK taxpayers pick up the bill because 'they were trying to reach Britain'

Expense: Afghan illegal immigrants sleeping rough in Calais are being flown home at a cost to UK taxpayers - on the basis Britain was where they were heading

British taxpayers are facing a huge bill for sending illegal immigrants home - from France.

A group of Afghans rounded up in Calais will be on the first of a planned series of deportation charter flights leaving Stansted for Kabul tomorrow.

The plane, carrying armed guards in an operation costing £200,000, will touch down in Lille to collect the French group.

The cost of removing the Calais Afghans is being justified on the grounds that they were trying to reach Britain when they were held.

Successive flights are likely to send the bill into the millions.

Last night, questions were being asked about Britain's decision to share the costs of the flight with France, even though the exercise is largely aimed at reducing the number of illegal immigrants camped out in northern France as they try to smuggle themselves on lorries, trains or ferries heading to this country.

Mark Wallace, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It is ridiculous that the Government is being so free and easy with British taxpayers' money.

'We have a big enough illegal immigrant problem inside Britain's borders without paying to solve those of the French as well.'

The scheme follows a meeting in September between Liam Byrne, then immigration minister, and his French counterpart Brice Hortefeux to discuss 'joining forces to deliver joint returns of illegal migrants'.

They agreed that the flights would start tomorrow. French companies have refused to offer planes, however, so a British one is expected to be used.

It is thought it will leave Stansted with a handful of Afghans being deported from the UK, then collect as many as 60 from France before continuing to Kabul via Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Crackdown: French police have destroyed squatter camps like this one in Calais

Despite strong opposition from human rights and refugee groups, the British and French governments are determined to rid Calais of homeless migrants.

The tough new policy has seen dozens of arrests and the breaking up of squatter camps in and around Calais.

At the weekend riot police smashed up makeshift shelters on a notorious stretch of wasteland known as The Jungle, the scene of the brutal rape of a London journalism student in the summer. Many of those arrested there will be on tomorrow's flight.

The UK Border Agency said last night: 'The UK is undergoing the biggest shake-up of its immigration system and border security for a generation.

'We already have one of the toughest borders in the world and we are determined to ensure it stays that way. We will continue to work with France - one of our closest European partners - in fighting illegal migration. Our shared determination has already created one of the toughest border crossings in the world at Calais.

'Together we have closed centres in northern France which drew in illegal migrants and acted as a magnet to traffickers. In 2008 to date, over 19,000 people have been discovered by our overseas border controls, 12,000 at Calais port.'

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France flies its Afghan migrants home...and UK taxpayers pick up the bill because 'they were trying to reach Britain'